Starwood Replacing Restaurant at Downtown Westin

PORTLAND-Starwood Hotels & Resorts has cut a management agreement with publicly traded restaurant operator Grill Concepts for a Daily Grill-branded restaurant at the Downtown Westin Hotel. The restaurant will open later this year at 750 SW Alder St, replacing the existing Oritalia restaurant.

The specifics of the 10-year deal with Los Angeles-based Grill Concepts aren’t being released, but according to Grill Concepts’ public filings and an interview with company Chairman Michael Weinstock, Starwood will foot the bill to build out the restaurant to Grill Concepts’ specifications, pay Grill Concepts a management fee of between 5% and 8.5% of gross receipts, and kick back between 25% and 35% of any profits that are generated.

White Plains, NY-based Starwood bought a stake in Grill Concepts in 2001 and the two inked an exclusive development agreement to open Grill Concepts restaurants in its hotels. The Westin Portland will be the second Starwood hotel to be part of the agreement, and the restaurant will be the first Daily Grill in the Northwest. In addition to being the only restaurant in the hotel, the Daily Grill also will be the exclusive room service provider and the food service provider for the hotel’s banquet facilities.

Oritalia, which offers an “eclectic fusion of Asian and Mediterranean cuisine in a contemporary cross-cultural setting,” should close sometime this month to make way for the Daily Grill, which will offer just about the opposite–steaks, chops, seafood, chicken pot pie, meat loaf, mashed potatoes, salads and homemade desserts. Starwood may hope everything will be the opposite of what it experienced with Oritalia, which it sued last year in Multnomah County Circuit Court, alleging the restaurant fell behind on payments on its lease and on a $250,000 loan.